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Problems like climate change, biodiversity loss and natural resource use have long-term implications which require long-term policy solutions. To make informed strategic decisions, we must try to anticipate what lies ahead and grasp ongoing, emerging and latent developments. If we want to seriously address Europe's sustainability, we have to look beyond two legislative cycles and more.
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Key facts and messages

The global population will still be growing midway through the
21st century but at a slower rate than in the past. People will live
longer, be better educated and migrate more. Some populations will
increase as others shrink. Migration is...
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The breakneck pace of technological change brings risks and
opportunities, not least for developed regions like Europe. These
include in particular the emerging cluster of nanotechnology,
biotechnology, and information and communication technology.
Innovations...
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The risk of exposure to new, emerging and re-emerging diseases,
to accidents and new pandemics, grows with increasing mobility
of people and goods, climate change and poverty. Vulnerable
Europeans could be severely affected.
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By increasing tax on pollution and other environmentally-damaging activities, governments can use the extra funds to provide incentives for innovation, such as developing renewable energy. For advanced economies like the EU, such schemes also...
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An increasingly urban world will probably mean spiralling
consumption and greater affluence for many. But it also means
greater poverty for the urban underprivileged. Poor urban living
conditions and associated environmental and health risks...
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Subtopics

Air pollution from Europe's largest industrial facilities cost society at least €59 billion, and possibly as much as €189 billion in 2012, according to an assessment published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Half of these damage costs were caused by just 1 % of the industrial plants.

Emissions of nitrogen-containing pollutants continue to harm sensitive ecosystems, according to two new reports published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Nonetheless, both reports show a marked improvement over the last two decades.

A new competition from the European Environment Agency (EEA) invites both professional and amateur photographers to capture what the environment means to them. Participants can win cash prizes and their photographs may be used to communicate environmental issues in major EEA reports.

In the last decade, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased more rapidly than ever, and without global cooperation they will continue to rise. Reduction efforts will become increasingly challenging and costly the longer they are delayed, according to a new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Featured article

The natural environment can benefit our health and quality of life, while environmental pollution has significant costs. Unfortunately, such links between environment, health and wellbeing are often ...